Abstract: The article discusses topical issues of the development of methodological tools of historical research in the light of the “digital turn”. The current agenda is formed today in the framework of international conferences and round tables. In the first part of the article the authors characterize the interdisciplinary discussion that took place at the Helsinki conference in 2019. The discussion focused on the role of digital data and tools in historians' research practices and forms of cooperation. Special attention is paid to the question of the extent to which the “digital turn” affects the fundamental aspects of historical research and its results. In the second part of the article it is noted that the answer to this question can be obtained through concrete historical research projects. The characteristic of a number of the latest works of Russian and foreign historians using digital resources and technologies in concrete historical research is given.

Keywords: historical information science, economic history, big data sets, online access, digital technologies, digital resources, digitization, digital turn, digital humanities, specific historical research

Abstract: The article studies the use of photo documents in various research practices as well as issues of involving more of these resources into research by optimizing the resource base planning. Photo documents are sources which can be used in many different research fields. They are sure to be in demand as far as multidisciplinary “visual” studies evolve.   The current methodology of representing information about photo collections in state archives does not allow one to improve the quality of research material selection.  The article aims at developing a photo documents database architecture satisfying different researchers. The research methodology includes the content analysis of published scientific materials that addressed the main research lines and goals determining researchers’ use of photo documents. The research novelty is the approach described.  As a result, photo document attributes were designed. They include not only the year of creation, the author, the place and the thematic description, but information about the document originality, its belonging to a collection, related documents, the customer of a photo document, the function and the context of photo document creation, the type and the nature of a photo. Each group of thematic attributes can be further decomposed to form the tree database structure.  The article demonstrates the decomposition of the attribute “photo nature - environment - urban environment” through several grounds proposed in current urban environment studies.  

Keywords: photography type, photography functions, photography context, urban environment, attribute, visual studies, archive, database, photo document, database architecture

Abstract: The article crowns a series of reviews dealing with information resources created on the basis of online archival audiovisual documents and discusses collections of film documents. The author considers electronic finding aids (catalogs) and digitized collections of documentary, artistic as well as experimental and amateur cinema stored in various fund holders: archives, libraries and museums. Emphasis was laid on activities of international organizations which are in charge of film industry and archives of audiovisual documents as well as national institutes and cinematography centers carrying out research (theoretical and methodological) and thematic (specific historical projects) studies of film documents. The main research methods are historical-genetic, historical-typological and historical-comparative ones which were accompanied by problem-chronological, historical descriptive methods and the method of actualization. The research novelty is the composition of resources described and the historiographic method of their study as well as brief summary of traditional source-study methods for studying film materials and assessing their adjustment to the electronic environment. The article specially analyses the use of electronic copies of film documents in research practice. 

Keywords: electronic copies, film documents, portal, scientific reference device, archive, information resources, audiovisual archives, film documentation methods, historical source, online publications

Abstract: The article demonstrates that the first half of the 1980s faced the aircraft industry decrease both in the USSR and around the world which was rapid, simultaneous and significant and affected the manufacture of both civilian and military airplanes. The manufacture of airplanes in the second half of the 1980s, up to 1990, was somewhat constant both in the USSR and the rest of the world. The decline in the USSR occurred not during the “perestroika”, but earlier, during the “late stagnation” period. The calculations have been carried out on the basis of data collected by the author. Data from over 100 sources were collected in a database including more than 700 records about the airplane manufacture in the USSR in the 1976-1990s. Unlike the USSR as a whole and most other countries of the world, there was no decrease of airplane manufacture in COMECON countries (Czechoslovakia, Poland and Romania) as well as Georgia and Uzbekistan. The author speculates about the reasons of this fact.

Keywords: world airplane production, aviation history, USSR history, 80s of the twentieth century, airplane manufacturing, historical database, production crisis, economic history, aviation, digital history

Abstract: Information technology of geochronological tracking in history is a combination of processes which accumulate and integrate data about geographic relocation of historical figures for a given time interval and present the results as a generalizing graph in GIS. Hypotheses on stable migration trends are sub-graphs of this graph. To test such trends is to search and evaluate statistical significance of isomorphism (structural similarity) of corresponding graphs. Rationalization of algorithm is achieved by means of a reasonably chosen basic method searching for isomorphic embedding into geochronotrack graph basis. The basic methodological approach is a combination of representative and analytical methods of modern geoinformatics and graph theory. Full-featured development of computer interpretation of graph theory methods based on geochronological tracking provides for new quality of historical studies using modern GIS-tools. Namely, a researcher can use quantitative methods of a corresponding logical-analytical apparatus. The article addresses qualitatively new possibilities of such an approach and a corresponding algorithmic apparatus. .

Keywords: information technology, graphs’ isomorphism, history researches, geochronological tracking, geochronological track, GIS technologies, Geographic information system, program apparatus, geographic data, biographical data

Abstract: Modern epoch of information and computer technologies provide new opportunities for solving the problem of cultural heritage preservation. Virtual reconstruction of historical interior is a task different from 3D reconstruction of monasteries, palace and park ensembles or historical urban buildings. Studies of great historical characters are conspicuous of their way of life, personal traits, activity and those internal changes which a person sooner or later transfers to everything around including the surroundings. The article thoroughly discusses a technique of virtual reconstruction of the interior of Nicholas’s I "Bottom" Study in the Winter Palace in 1850-1855 with the help of augmented reality and panoramic video technologies. The topic of historical interior virtual reconstruction often arises in the context of museum studies and is currently underdeveloped. However, the personal side of interiors is no less important for history than external architectural reconstruction.  

Keywords: SketchUp, video 360, augment reality, virtual reconstruction, Nicolas I, cabinet, interiors, Winter Palace, Twinmotion, 3D model

Abstract: The cultural heritage objects that have undergone major changes due to various historical events need modern approaches to their presentation and display, especially if there are no illustrative sources or such evidence should be collected bit by bit in archival documents and numerous scientific works. The Winter Palace has a unique room closed for visitors where one can demonstrate the history of Russia, architecture and museum collections from the 18th to the 21st centuries. This study was based on a hypothesis that a three-dimensional computer model can be of use. Reconstruction and modeling are sure to result in a “time machine” which will demonstrate all the stages of architectural reconstructions, functional transformations and tell us about a historical environment determining these changes.  Never before the task for collecting all data in a computer model of the interior with information about the room decoration in order to create a virtual tour of the Winter Palace historical interior has been put forward. At the moment, it is impossible to predict what adjustments will be made to the museum plans at the time when these halls are renovated and become available to visitors, but it is desirable to study the complex of different sources in advance to make up a story about the history of one of the premises of the former Imperial residence with the help of modern technology.

Keywords: historical reconstruction, archive document, historical source, SketchUp, 3D-mode, Nicolas I, cabinet, interior, Winter Palace, information technologies

Abstract: The historical population register of Norway contains data on the country's population from 1800 to 1964. Information on the country's population from 1964 to the present is collected in the Central Population Register. The historical register consists of these metric books and civil records, filling in the gaps between population censuses conducted every ten years. In 1801 and, beginning in 1865, these censuses were nominative, that is, contained the names of people. This article is devoted to the problems of linking census records and metric books (record linkage) from 1800 to 1920. Special attention is paid to the identification of individuals and the difficulties of linking records. The main problem is to identify a person by the records belonging to different years, in terms of a significant number of namesakes and variations in the fixation of their names, as well as age. The creation of stable identifiers for individuals and the procedure for linking records from various sources required the development of new software combining automatic and manual methods. Analysis of local databases allows us to hope for successful linking from 2/3 to 90% of records for various periods and regions of the country. The historical register of Norway is unique in its coverage of the territory and the variety of historical sources related to it.

Keywords: Norway, health study, history, microdata, longitudinal research data, record linkage, sensus, church records, register, method

Abstract: The authors assess how 1897 Census papers stored in Russian and foreign archives are represented and preserved. The study of primary data document collections leads to a conclusion that the term “census papers” is heterogeneous and includes several different forms used depending on a type of household and region as well as first, second and third copies of census forms. A peculiar feature of the article is the presentation of conclusions in the form of cartograms based on modern and historical maps. The study has used source studies analysis and spatial analysis as well as a complex approach treating census papers as a unified historical source irrespective of their storage place. The research novelty is identification and introduction of a complex of nominative 1897 Census data. In addition, the authors propose an original approach that takes into account both the number of areas populated and the number of census papers preserved in them which allowed them to assess the degree of preservation of census materials in Russian Empire uezds. The article concludes that census papers with different preservation state have been identified for 47 % of guberniyas and 25.5% of uezds.  Census paper collections cover regions of European Russia and Siberia, partly those of the Caucasus and Central Asia. The volume of census paper data preserved and their "territorial spread" allows one to consider them a complex source on the history of the Russian Empire population at the turn of the 19th century. .

Keywords: Historical Informatics, Database, GIS, Spatial analysis, Archive fund, Historical source, Source study analysis, Archive, Census lists, Census

Abstract: The article reviews the content and the main features of the conference of researchers working with MAXQDA program. The MQIC conference is an event organized annually by VERBI Software GmbH in Berlin. The topicality of the article is in growing popularity of MAXQDA among historians. This software is increasingly used to analyze narrative historical sources. The article briefly describes analytical tools of MAXQDA (emphasizing its application in the field of historical research), reviews sections, seminars, round tables and other events held at MQIC 2019 conference as well as examines the main features of their organization and topics addressed. The article concludes that this international scientific event is an excellent opportunity to learn how to use MAXQDA not only at the basic level, but also at the advanced level as well as exchange contacts with international colleagues. 

Keywords: international conference, software, content analysis, MAXQDA, quantitative data analysis, qualitative data analysis, narrative historical sources, MQIC, mixed methods, historical research